My Life. My Views

Does your credibility or intellectual capacity depend on the institution you hail from? Is the institution bigger than the person himself? So much so that you do not have any other identity other than the fact that you are from so-and-so place?

The other day I was chatting with a friend and it just so happened that he made a statement, which stayed with me for a long time… He said “She obviously is smart… She is from the XYZ”. A lot of times us humans erroneously use logic. This reminds me of a subject I had taken during my graduate studies, Symbolic logic and Logic Programming. For the benefit of all, in predicate logic, if A -> B, then it is not necessary that B -> A. Going by the same logic, It is ok to say, that “if she is smart, she will end up in XYZ”. But, saying that “Because she is from XYZ, she is smart”, is inherently erroneous! This is because no matter how tough or fool-proof the screening process, there is no test in the world, that can do full justice to human intelligence.

Even if you claim that they very best are chosen by XYZ, it again boils down to what is best according to you… An ugly consequence of this kind of thinking is that people start judging you based on the place you hail from. If the person you meeting is from XYZ, you tell yourself, he ought to be good… This may or may not be true! This, then leads to Herd Mentality

Lets look at it from the point of view of the people who have to live with this legacy of being from XYZ? They do not have friends with-in the XYZ, because everyone is out to be the best! They all try to be nice to one another but given a chance, they wouldn’t mind cutting each other’s throats! And whats worst is that these people have to live with this legacy! Always! Such a huge legacy, in my opinion, is more of a burden than anything else. It just stifles you and stops you from growing! You have to be politically correct all the time and should fall under the norms of the society, defined for yourself!

You’re right. It depends upon the criteria of brilliance. For example, a particular institution is known for creative people and they have tough entrance examinations. That doesn’t mean everybody who gets in there is creative and will form a rock band right? Someone will be simple and just wanting to learn and get a job. You can never generalize people like that, everybody is different in their own way.

Totally agree Ni. An institution becomes great only when people subscribe to it! and the vice versa cant be true…

But one thing, if there’s healthy competition going on in an environment, your mind gets moulded and the so-called peer pressure lets you think bigger, wider.. So, you can say XYZ is smart because she is from ABC. But the sentence cant stop here!

In the climb up the corporate ladder of success, the ones on a fast lane are the (street) smart people. That is what helps such people to succeed, whether it is getting into higher rated institutes or getting ahead in career.

The good xyz institute degree is just another trophy on their shelf. Passing from a big institute does not preclude intelligence by itself. But it is a fair indicator. 🙂

Let me make it more confusing 🙂
We are the products of our environments and our environments are what we make. It’s two way. A corporation in most cases is the personification of the combined personalities of its owners/managers/employees.
Then there is the East and West difference. In the East, individuals are likely to shape institutions. In the West, environments, institutions and systems shape individuals and mindsets. Or whichever is stronger and more efficient, shapes the other.
The influence is continous, and people and environments keep changing constantly to adapt to each other.